This recipe is based on a clone of Terrapin's "Wake N' Bake" Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout. I had a 5 gallon MLT, so I used DME to make up the gravity. I added the DME at the beginning of the boil. Since its a dark beer, I was not worried about late additions. This beer got a lower "overall impression" score than the other 3rd place category 23 beer. It was awarded 39 points by both judges.

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 9.75 lb
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Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 12.19 qt of water at 168.2 F 156.0 F

Notes:
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Checked SG on 7-10-09 = 1.030

After 30 days primary fermentation, rack to keg. Age for 3 months.

When ready to consume, dry "coffee" with .25 lbs fresh ground Jittery Joes Wake N' Bake Blend. This blend from Jittery Joes was specially forumlated by Spike of Terrapin for this beer. Terrapin uses 1lb/bbl. I'm using a larger percentage, but am aging it for a while. Keep in for 3 days.

brewed this on 10/9/10, it's fermenting its arse off at the moment - clogged the airlock overnight! I used White Labs Irish Ale yeast and added 1/2 tsp of yeast nutrient at the end of the boil. Also used 6.0 lbs of Liquid Malt Extract instead of dry.

Ok - I've been doing some more reading on partial mash, given the flaked oats, I just can't get away with not doing a partial mash...So I've read that great sticky thread with the pictures on partial mash and will give it a try. I've also read that really good conversion guide from 1998. But I'm still a little unsure of the liquid/volume. I have a 5 gallon pot, and some smaller ones. If i were to mash a total of 7.75 lbs (4lbs of pale malt and the 3.75 of all the others), would this fit in my 5 gallon pot along with water of about 2.58 gallons (based on 1 gallon per 3 lbs of grain)?

If I use another 2.58 gallons for sparge, and assuming I lose 1 gallon from the mash, when I combine, I'll have about 4.17 gallons to bring the wort to a boil. (Based on my conversion the remaining 2 lbs of pale malt would convert to 1.33 lbs of DME (2/3 DME per 1lb grain) bringing the total DME to 6.08 lbs).

If my water to grain ratio is right, I'm comfortable using the 5 gallon pot for that part, I just don't know if 7.75 lbs of grain plus 2.58 gallons of water will fit comfortably (for my sanity's comfort as well) in a 5 gallon pot. Do I have a shot at this?

Also, had a question on the instructions when it says: 60 min Mash In Add 12.19 qt of water at 168.2 F 156.0 F

What does this mean, is the temperature range for mashing 156 - 168? That's seems like a pretty wide range to me.
Alos, do I have to keg this? Could I just let sit the primary and then bottle? Do I really need to wait 3 months for an optimal beer?

I would try to keep my grainaround 4lbs since this is your 1st partial mash try. Just get lower your two row and up your DME until you get the correct numbers. I would also use two really big grain bags to let the grain spread out in our pot.
I"ll try to make this easy for you...

Put 3 gallons in your pot.

Add your grains (in the bags) and bring to 165 F.

Kill heat, keep covered and hold ad that temp for 50-60 min (Wrap in towles to help heat stay in).

I would just pull and dunk the bags to sparge the grains lettting as much liquid drain from grains without squeezing.

Then go ahead and brew as you would have in the past: add dme, hops and do your 60 min boil as usual with the said hop additions.

Cool wort, add to fermenter and top off to 5 gallons.

I would ferment however you see fit. Look at some other stout fermentation suggestions and go with what you like. Stouts have always aged well in the bottle for me...BUT...for this recipes it sounds as though the coffee is added to the keg after it ages, thus not possible if you bottle. Again look at some other stout recipes with coffee and do it differently according to one of those. I would think one could use way too much coffee and get a very bitter beer. Read around, in books etc. and see whats reasonable.
Relax, have a home brew, take it slow and easy and it should come out great!
p.s. I love bottling stouts to age;-)

I was actually looking up info about terrapin's stout. However with the two temperatures, one is the temp of the strike water, and the other is the mash temp. When you mix room temperature grain with hot water, they'll stabilize in temperature somewhere in the middle. With mini-mashing, if you use the original 1.25qt/lb ratio of water you'll probably want to follow the temps given. There are probably calculators online somewhere if you use a different water:grain ratio.

I brewed this in early october, bottled it mid January. Now in late Feb it has aged into an AWESOME beer. I used a friends home-roasted Columbian beans and left them in for two days prior to bottleing.

The first bottle i tried after 2 weeks was really strong coffee flavored and not all that good, but i could sense the mellowing that would come over time. Now, after about 5 weeks in the bottles this is a really good, strong stout. the coffee is mellow, the alchohol is high - as an imperial should be.

I would try to keep my grainaround 4lbs since this is your 1st partial mash try. Just get lower your two row and up your DME until you get the correct numbers. I would also use two really big grain bags to let the grain spread out in our pot.
I"ll try to make this easy for you...

Put 3 gallons in your pot.

Add your grains (in the bags) and bring to 165 F.

Kill heat, keep covered and hold ad that temp for 50-60 min (Wrap in towles to help heat stay in).

I would just pull and dunk the bags to sparge the grains lettting as much liquid drain from grains without squeezing.

Then go ahead and brew as you would have in the past: add dme, hops and do your 60 min boil as usual with the said hop additions.

Cool wort, add to fermenter and top off to 5 gallons.

I would ferment however you see fit. Look at some other stout fermentation suggestions and go with what you like. Stouts have always aged well in the bottle for me...BUT...for this recipes it sounds as though the coffee is added to the keg after it ages, thus not possible if you bottle. Again look at some other stout recipes with coffee and do it differently according to one of those. I would think one could use way too much coffee and get a very bitter beer. Read around, in books etc. and see whats reasonable.
Relax, have a home brew, take it slow and easy and it should come out great!
p.s. I love bottling stouts to age;-)